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The Ethics of Suicide

Historical Sources

Edited by Margaret Pabst Battin

Description

Is suicide wrong, profoundly morally wrong? Almost always wrong, but excusable in a few cases? Sometimes morally permissible? Imprudent, but not wrong? Is it sick, a matter of mental illness? Is it a private matter or a largely social one? Could it sometimes be right, or a "noble duty," or even a fundamental human right? Whether it is called "suicide" or not, what role may a person play in the end of his or her own life?

This collection of primary sources--the principal texts of ethical interest from major writers in western and nonwestern cultures, from the principal religious traditions, and from oral cultures where observer reports of traditional practices are available, spanning Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Oceania, the Arctic, and North and South America--facilitates exploration of many controversial practical issues: physician-assisted suicide or aid-in-dying; suicide in social or political protest; self-sacrifice and martyrdom; suicides of honor or loyalty; religious and ritual practices that lead to death, including sati or widow-burning, hara-kiri, and sallekhana, or fasting unto death; and suicide bombings, kamikaze missions, jihad, and other tactical and military suicides.

This collection has no interest in taking sides in controversies about the ethics of suicide; rather, rather, it serves to expand the character of these debates, by showing them to be multi-dimensional, a complex and vital part of human ethical thought.

The Ethics of Suicide

Historical Sources

Edited by Margaret Pabst Battin

Table of Contents

I. Introduction: Sources of Conflict in Contemporary Controversies about Suicide II. SelectionsEgyptian Didactic Tale (c. 2180-c. 2050 B.C.) Dialogue of a Man With His Soul The Vedas, Brahmanas, and Upanishads (c. 1500-c. 500 B.C.) Rig Veda Brahma Purana Padme Purana Skanda Purana Chandogya Upanishad Isha Upanishad The Hebrew Bible and Apocrypha (c. 12-1st centuries B.C.) Genesis The Prohibition of Suicide Exodus: The Ten Commandments Judges: Samson and the Philistines I Samuel-II Samuel: Saul and his Armor-Bearer Job: The Sufferings of Job II Maccabees: The Suicide of Razis Daniel: Shadrach, Meschach, Abednego and the Fiery FurnaceHomer (c. 8th century B.C.) The Iliad: The Deaths of Hector and AchillesDharmashastra (c. 600 B.C. - 200 A.D.) Gautama Sutra Apastamba Sutra Vasistha Sutra The Laws of Manu The Jain Tradition (599-527 B.C. to 5th century A.D.) Acaranga Sutra: Liberation Tattvartha Sutra: Passionless End is Not Suicide Upasakadasah: Ten Chapters on Lay Attenders: The Story of Ananda Confucius (551-479 B.C.) The Analects The Book of Filial Piety Sophocles (c. 496-406 B.C.) Ajax Oedipus at Colonus Euripides (c. 484-406 B.C.) Suppliant Women: The Suicide of Evadne, Watched by her Father The Hippocratic Corpus (c. 450-c. 350 B.C.) The Hippocratic Oath About MaidensPlato (c. 424-c. 348 B.C.) Apology: On Being Condemned to Death Phaedo: The Death of Socrates The Republic: On Medicine The Laws: Recidivist Criminals and Penalties for Suicide Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) Nicomachean Ethics Mencius (c. 372-c. 289 B.C.) The MenciusQu Yuan (c. 340-278 B.C.) Embracing Sand Chrysippus (c. 280-c. 206 B.C.) The Stoics' Five Reasons for Suicide Sima Qian (145 or 135-86 B.C.) Records of the Grand Historian: The Basic Annals of Xiang Yu Records of the Grand Historian: The Assassin and his Sister Letter in Reply to Ren ShaoqingCicero (106-43 B.C.) Tusculan Disputations On Ends On Old Age The Questions of King Milinda (c. 100 B.C.-c.200 A.D.) On Suicide Livy (c. 59 B.C.-17 A.D.) The History of Rome: The Rape of LucretiaSeneca (4 B.C.-65 A.D.) Moral Letters to Lucilius Letter 70: On the Proper Time to Slip the Cable Letter 77: On Taking One's Own Life Letter 78: On the Healing Power of the Mind Valerius Maximus (fl. c. 14-c. 31) Memorable Doings and Sayings Pliny the Elder (23-79 A.D.) Natural History Of God Nature of the Earth Ignatius of Antioch (c. 30 or 50-117) Epistle: To the Romans Josephus (37-c. 100) The Jewish War The Defeat at Jotapa Mass Suicide at Masada Plutarch (c. 46-c. 120) Moralia: The Women of Miletus Parallel Lives: Cato the YoungerThe New Testament (c. 50-c. 150) Matthew: The Death of Judas Acts: Paul Prevents a Suicide I Corinthians: The Body as Temple Philippians: Paul in Prison: On the Desire to DieThe Lotus Sutra (c. 50-c. 200) Tacitus (c. 55-c.117) The Annals: The Death of Seneca Epictetus (c. 55-c. 135) Discourses How From the Doctrine of Our Relationship to God We Are To Deduce its Consequences How We Should Bear Illness Of FreedomPliny the Younger (62-113) Letters To Calestrius Tiro To Catilius Severus To Marcilius Nepos To Calpurnius Macer Justin Martyr (c. 100-165) The Second Apology: Why Christians Do Not Kill Themselves Clement of Alexandria (c. 150-c. 215) The Praises of Martyrdom Those Who Offered Themselves for Martyrdom Reproved Tertullian (c. 160-c. 220) To the Martyrs The Crown of Martyrdom Bhagavad-Gita (3rd century) The Way to Eternal Brahman Genesis Rabbah (compiled 3rd-5th century) Commentary on Genesis 9:5Plotinus (204/205-270) from The Enneads Fourth Tractate: On HappinessSeventh Tractate: On the Primal Good and Secondary Forms of Good Ninth Tractate: The Reasoned 'Dismissal'Lactantius (c. 240-c. 320) The Divine Institutes Eusebius (c. 260-339) Ecclesiastical History Ambrose (337/340-397) Of Virgins: Letter to MarcellinaAugustine (354-430) The City of God On Free Choice and the Will The Babylonian Talmud (3rd-6th centuries) Bava Kama Avodah Zarah Gittin Semahot Bana (late 6th century--early 7th century) Harsha-Carita, The Death of the Great King: On Sati Kadambari The Quran (traditional date c. 632-c.650) Surahs 2.54, 2.154, 2.195, 2.207, 3.145, 3.169-70, 4.29-30, 4.66, 4.74-80, 9.111, 18.6 Muhammad ibn Ismail al-Bukhari and Muslim al-Hajjaj (810-870; c. 817/821-875) HadithYa'qub al-Qirqisani (c. 890-c.960) The Book of Lighthouses and WatchtowersAhmad ibn Fadlan (fl. 920s) The Risala: By the River Volga, 922: Viking Ship-Burial Abu Hayyan al-Tawhidi (922/932-1023) Borrowed Lights: On Suicide Murasaki Shikibu (970-1031) The Tale of Genji Jetsun Milarepa (c. 1052-c. 1135) Songs of Milarepa Abu-Hamid Muhammad al-Ghazali (1056-1111) Revival of the Religious Sciences Tosafot (12th-14th centuries) On Avodah Zarah 18a Tosafot on the TorahHenry de Bracton (c. 1210-1268) On the Laws and Customs of England: Where a Man Commits Felony Upon His Own Person The Norse Sagas (c. 1220-c.1400) Ynglinga Saga: Odin Marks Himself with a Spear [1930] [1844 Gautrek's Saga: The Family Cliff Njal's Saga: The Burning of Njal Thomas Aquinas (c. 1225-1274) Summa Theologiae: Whether One is Allowed to Kill Oneself Angela of Foligno (1248-1309) The Book of Divine Consolation Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) The Divine Comedy: Inferno Abu 'Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Battuta (1304-1368/69 A.D.) from Rihla: On Sati and Religious SuicideThomas More (1478-1535) Utopia A Dialogue of Comfort Against Tribulation Martin Luther (1483-1546) Table-Talk Francisco de Vitoria (c.1483/92-1546) Lecture on Homicide Commentary on [Thomas Aquinas] Summa Theologiae IIa IIae Q. 64 John Calvin (1509-1564) Sermons on Job Solomon ben Jehiel Luria (1510-1573) On Bava Kamma Central and South American Native Cultures (documented 1526-1621) Aztec Codex Chimalpopoca (1570) The Death of Quetzalcoatl Letters from Mexico (1519-20) (Hernán Cortés, 1519-20) General History of the Things of New Spain (The Florentine Codex) The Festival in the Month of Tóxcatl The Sun, Moon, and Stars, and the Binding of the Years (Bernardino de Sahagún, c. 1565) Monarchia Indiana Chimalpopoca's Victory in Death (Juan de Torquemada, 1609-15) In Defense of the Indians (Bartolomé de Las Casas, 1548-1550)Maya: Popol Vuh: History of the Twins Hunahpu and Xbalanque How the People Obtained Fire (dictated in K'iche', c. 1554-1558; Francisco Ximénez, c. 1701) An Account of the Affairs of Yucatán Ixtab: Goddess of the Gallows (Diego de Landa, c. 1570)Caribbean: Natural History of the West Indies Suicide on the Death of the Chief (Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo, 1526) La Historia General de las Indias Suicide, Smallpox, and the Arrival of the Spaniards (Francisco López de Gómara, 1552) Hhistory of the New WorldSuffering at the Hands of the Spaniards (Girolamo Benzoni, 1565)Inca: The Indias The Burial of Wives (Pedro de Cieza de León, 1553) Natural & Moral History of the Indies Of Superstitions They Used to the Dead(José de Acosta, 1589) La Extirpacion de la Idolatria en el Peru What Those Who Hang Themselves Really Are (Pablo José de Arriaga, 1621)Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592 Of Cannibals A Custom of the Island of Cea Abu'l Fazl ibn Mubarak (1551-1602) Biography of the Emperor Akbar: On Jauhar and SakaWillliam Shakespeare (1564-1616) Hamlet, Prince of Denmark Antony and Cleopatra John Donne (1572-1631) Biathanatos Robert Burton (1577-1640) Anatomy of Melancholy John Sym (1581?-1638) Lifes Preservative Against Self-Killing Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) Leviathan A Dialogue of the Common Laws of England Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677) Ethics Samuel von Pufendorf (1632-1694) Of the Law of Nature and Nations ) John Locke (1632-1704) Second Treatise of Government: Samuel Pepys (1633-1703) Diary, January 21, 1668Huang Liuhong (1633-c. 1710) A Complete Book Concerning Happiness and Benevolence North American Native Cultures (documented 1635-1970) Northeast: Ojibwa: Mrs. Cochran Becoming a Windigo (R. Landes, 1932-1935)Micmac: The Gaspesians: Suicide, Shame, and Despair. (Chrestien Le Clercq, 1675-1686) Huron: Le Jeune's Relation (Jean de Brebeuf; Father Paul le Jeune 1635-36) The Suicide of Children (Anthony F.C. Wallace, citing LeMercier, 1600's) Iroquois: Suicide (Father Joseph François Lafitau, 1712-17) Suicide of the Widowed (Baron de Lahontan, 1703) The Song of Death (Baron de Lahontan, 1703) Seneca: Murder and Suicide (Mrs. Mary Jemison, 1817)The Code of Handsome Lake (Edward Cornplanter, Arthur C. Parker, 1850, 1913 The Suicide as Earthbound (Jesse Cornplanter)Southeast: Cherokee: Varieties of Shame: Time of Death, Pollution, and the Disfigurement of Smallpox (James Adair, 1775) Natchez: The Favorite Wife of the Chief Sun (Jean-Bernard Bossu, 1751-1762) Great Plains: Comanche: Elderly Persons (Ernest Wallace & Edward Adamson Hoebel, 1933, 1945) Suicide from Overwhelming Shame (Edward Adamson Hoebel, 1940) Arapaho:The Rarity of Suicide; When the Camp Moved (M. Inez Hilger, 1935-1942) Sioux: Suicide among Sioux Women (John Bradbury, 1809-11) Cheyenne: Two Twists in Battle(Karl N. Llewellyn and Edward Adamson Hoebel, 1941) Mandan: Smallpox and the End of a Household (Alfred W. Bowers, 1930-1931) Crow: Crazy-Dog Wishing to Die (Robert H. Lowie, 1913) The Lowest of the Low (William Wildschut, 1918-1927; 1960) Gros Ventre: Singing the 'Brave-Song' (Regina Flannery, 1940-48) Blackfoot: Suicide to Avoid Marriage (George Bird Grinnell, 1888) The Sandhills (Adolf Hungry Wolf, 1977) Kit-sta-ka Rejoins her Husband After the Sun Dance(Walter McClintock, 1910) When Wakes-Up-Last Murdered All of his Children(Walter McClintock, 1968)Southwest: Navajo: Notes on Navajo Suicide (Leland C. Wyman and Betty Thorne, 1945) The Destination of Witches and Suicides (Leland C. Wyman, W.W. Hill, and Iva Osanai, 1942) Reasons for Suicide (D. Leighton and C. Kluckhohn, 1947) Ending One's Life by Wishing to Die (Franc Johnson Newcomb, 1915-1940) Crazy Violence (B. Kaplan and D. Johnson, 1964) Navajo Suicide (Jerrold E. Levy, 1965) Hopi: Making Arrangements for Suicide (Edmund Nequatewa, 1936) How the Hopi Marked the Boundary Line (Edmund Nequatewa, 1936) Girls Going Qövisti (Mischa Titiev, 1932-1940) Ute: Postmenopausal Women (John Wesley Powell, 1867-1880) Pueblo: Suicides as Cloud Beings (Elsie Clews Parsons, 1939) Ritual Revenge (Ruth Benedict, 1934) Jicarilla Apache: Apache War Customs (M.E. Opler, 1936) Mojave: The First Death: Matavilye, and Suicide in Childbirth, Weaning, and Twins (George Devereux, 1961) West and Northwest Coast: Pomo: Psychological Suicide (B.W. Aginsky, 1934-35) Wintu and others: Suicide in Northeastern California (Erminie W. Voegelin, 1937) Klamath: The Stigma of Suicide(Lucy Thompson, 1916) Salish Strained Sex Relations (V. F. Ray, 1928-1930) Salish Suicide by Hanging (W. Cline, 1930) Kwakiutl Shame (Ruth Benedict, 1934) Chilkotin/Talkotin Barbarities Practised on Widows (Ross Cox, citing M'Gillivray 1794-95) Tlingit Holding Others Responsible for Suicide (Aurel Krause, 1881-1882; 1956) Slaves: An Honor to Die at the Master's Funeral (Albert F. Niblack, 1887) Paying Damages for Suicide(Livingston F. Jones, 1893-1914; 1914) Kaska Suicide and Intoxication (John Joseph Honigmann, 1943-1945)Daidoji Yuzan (1639-1730) Beginner's Book of Bushido Increase Mather (1639-1723) A Call to the Tempted Chikamatsu Monzaemon (1653-1725) The Love Suicides at Sonesaki John Adams (1662-1720) An Essay Concerning Self-Murther Cotton Mather (1663-1728) Memorable Providences Relating to Witchcrafts and Possessions Isaac Watts (1674-1748) A Defense Against the Temptation to Self-MurtherMontesquieu (1689-1755) Persian Letters Considerations on the Causes of the Greatness of the Romans and their Decline The Spirit of the Laws Voltaire (1694-1778) Philosophical Dictionary Caleb Fleming (1698-1779) A Dissertation Upon the Unnatural Crime of Self-Murder (1773) John Wesley (1703-1791) Thoughts on Suicide David Hume (1711-1776) Essay on Suicide To John Home of Ninewells Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778)Julie, or The New Heloise, Letters 114, 115William Blackstone (1723-1780) Commentaries on the Laws of England: Homicide Paul-Henri Thiry, Baron d'Holbach (1723-1789) The System of Nature Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals The Metaphysical Principles of Virtue: Man's Duty to Himself Insofar as He Is an Animal Being Lectures on Ethics: Duties Towards The Body in Regard to Life Cesare Beccaria (1738-1794) Of Crimes and Punishments Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) A Bill for Proportioning Crimes and Punishments in Cases Heretofore Capital Letter to Dr. Samuel Brown, July 14, 1813 Olaudah Equiano (c. 1745-1797) The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African, Written by HimselfRichard Hey (1745-1835) Dissertation on Suicide Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) Principles of Penal Law Principles of Judicial Procedure Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) The Sorrows of Young Werther Poetry and Truth from My Own Life William Godwin (1756-1836) Enquiry Concerning Political Justice Memoirs of the Author of a Vindication of the Rights of Woman Johann Gottlieb Fichte (1762-1814) The Science of Ethics as Based on the Science of Knowledge Ephraim Zalman Margolioth (1762-1828) Bet Efrayim Ann Louise Germaine de Staël (1766-1817) On the Influence of the Passions Reflections on Suicide Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831) The Philosophy of Right

Novalis (1772-1801) Novices of Sais Jean-Étienne-Dominique Esquirol (1772-1840) Mental Maladies: Treatise on Insanity Rammohun Roy (1774-1833) Conference Between an Advocate For, and an Opponent Of, the Practice of Burning Widows AliveThomas de Quincey (1785-1859) Essays in Philosophy: On Suicide Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) The World as Will and Idea Studies in Pessimism: On Suicide Giacomo Leopardi (1798-1837) Dialogue between Plotinus and Porphyry John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) Autobiography

Deaths of Casimir Perier and Georges Cuvier Penal Code for India Diary, March 8, 1854 On Liberty Forbes Winslow (1810-1874) The Anatomy of Suicide: Can Suicide Be Prevented by Legislative Enactment? Karl Marx (1818-1883) Peuchet on Suicide Florence Nightingale (1820-1910) Note, Christmas Eve, 1850 From Nightingale's draft novelDraft for Suggestions for Thought to Searchers After Religious Truth (1860) Notes on Nursing Note to Benjamin Jowett (c. 1866)Reflections on Robert Falconer (1868) Mysticism and Eastern Religions Oceanic Cultures (documented 1820-1983) Melanesia Fiji: The Principal Wife of the Chief (William Mariner, 1820) Elderly Parents and the Time to Die (Charles Wilkes, 1845) Deaths of the Old Chief and his Wives (Thomas Williams, 1858) Solomon Islands: Tikopian Attitudes Towards Suicide (Raymond Firth, 1967) Papua New Guinea: Kiriwina/The Trobriand Islands: Suicide as an Act of Justice Expiation and Insult: Jumping from a Palm (Bronislaw Malinowski, 1916, 1926) The Kaliai: Good Death, Bad Death (David R. Counts and Dorothy Ayers Counts, 1983-84) Micronesia: Guam: A Tale of Two Lovers: Tying Their Hair Together (Freycinet, 1819) Chuuk: Sea Spirit Spasms (Frank Joseph Mahony, (1950-1968), 1970) Group Rejection and Suicide (Thomas Gladwin and Seymour Bernard Sarason, 1953) Polynesia: Samoa: "Who Will Go With Me?" (George Turner, 1884) Tonga: The Love-Sick of Vavau (Basil Thomson, 1886-1891, 1894) Niue Island: Traditions of Niue (Edwin M. Loeb, 1926) Pukapuka, Cook Islands: After Defeat in Fighting: Burying Oneself Alive (Ernest Beaglehole and Pearl Beaglehole, 1938) Marquesas: Coconut Rites for Suicide Tahia-noho-uu (E. S. Craighill Handy, 1920-1921, 1923, 1930)Mangareva, Gambier Islands: Cliff Suicide: The Privilege of Women (Te Rangi Hiroa [Sir Peter H. Buck], 1938) New Zealand: The Maori Myth of Tane The Myth of Rakuru (John White, 1887) Maori: Tupu and Mate (J. Prtyz Johansen, 1954) The Spirit The Dying Maori Chief and his Old and Young Wives (Frederick Edward Maning, 1922) Hawaii The Secrecy of the Bones of a Chief (Laura C. Green and Martha Warren Beckwith, 1926) Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821-1881) The Diary of a Writer In Lieu of a Preface on the Great and Little Bears, on the Prayer of the Great Goethe, And, Generally, on Bad Habits Two Suicides The Verdict Arbitrary Assertions A Few Words About Youth On Suicides and Haughtiness The Boy Celebrating His Saint's Day The Dream of a Strange Man: A Fantastic StoryRobert Ingersoll (1833-1899) Is Suicide a Sin? A.B. Mitford, Lord Redesdale (1837-1916) An Account of the Hara-KiriArctic Cultures (documented 1840-1940) Eskimo of Diomede Island Father and Son (documented by Weyer 1932) Aleut Are the Aleut Prone to Commit Suicide? (documented by Veniaminov, 1840) St. Lawrence Eskimo Notes on Eskimo Patterns of Suicide (documented by Leighton and Hughes 1940) IngalikSuicide as Shameful or Insane (documented by Osgood, 1937) Copper Eskimo Death Taboos (documented by Rasmussen 1921-24) Suicide as Rare (documented by Jenness 1913-18) Eskimo of Cumberland Sound Man's Two Souls: The Afterlife (documented by Boas 1883-84) Caribou Eskimo Moral Rights, Social Obligations (documented by Birket-Smith 1921-24) Netsilik Eskimo Famine; On the Treatment of the Aged (documented by Rasmussen 1921-24) Iglulik Eskimo The Moon Spirit Death, and Life in the Land of the Dead Those Who Were Left Behind (documented by Rasmussen 1921-24) Hudson Bay Inuit Desertion of Old Women (documented by Turner 1882-84, 1889-90)Eskimo of Baffin Island Theological Questions

(documented by Hall 1860-62) Tribal Life (documented by Bilby 1923)Labrador Eskimo Respect for the Aged (documented by Hawkes 1914) Greenland Eskimo The Old Woman and the Cliff (documented by Nansen 1893) Eduard von Hartmann (1842-1906) Philosophy of the Unconscious William James (1842-1910) The Principles of Psychology Is Life Worth Living? Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) Thus Spake Zarathustra: Voluntary Death The Twilight of the Idols: A Moral for Doctors African Traditional SubSaharan Cultures (documented 1853--) African Origin Myths: Man Desires Death [compiled by Hans Abrahamsson] Dogon: The Souls of the Dogons [documented by Solange de Ganay, field date 1937-39] LoDagaa: The Day of Death: Restraining the Bereaved to Prevent Suicide [documented by Jack Goody, 1962]Akan: The Detection of Witches: Ordeal and Punishment Ashanti: Law and Constitution: A Suicide's Trial [documented by Capt. R. S. Rattray, 1929] Funeral Rites for Babies and Kings[documented by Capt. R. S. Rattray, 1929][1923/27] The Price of Intrigue with Women of Royal Blood[documented by A. B. Ellis, 1887] Fante: Killing Oneself Adjuah Amissah[documented by Brodie Cruickshank, 1853] Gã: The Prohibition of Death [documented by M. J. Field, 1937] Ewe: The Criminality of Suicide [documented by A.B. Ellis, 1890] Yoruba: The Kings of the Yoruba [documented by Samuel Johnson, 1897] Sango: The God of Thunder and Lightning The King's Natural and Official MothersChildren Born to DieWearing the Death Cloth The Fate of Despots Yoruba Laws and Customs: Suicide [documented by A. K. Ajisafe, 1924] Igbo: Evil Spirits [documented by Northcote W. Thomas, 1913] Sacrifices, Death, and Burial [documented by G. T. Basden, 1938] A Murderer Must Hang Himself An Old Woman's Prearranged Funeral [documented by G. T. Basden, 1921] Zulu: The Timely Death Godusa: The Old Woman and the Antbear's Hole[documented by R.C.A. Samuelson, 1929] Ukugodusa: The First Woman Who Became a Christian [documented by L. H. Samuelson, 1912] The Burial of a King [documented by R.C.A. Samuelson, 1929] Banyoro: The Ghost of a Suicide Dinka: The Folktale of the Four Truths Burial Alive: The Master of the Fishing-SpearHindu Widow, Anonymous (1889) Hindu Widows. By One of ThemselvesSigmund Freud (1856-1939) The Psychopathology of Everyday LifeContributions to a Discussion on Suicide Mourning and Melancholia The Psychogenesis of a Case of Homosexuality in a Woman The Economic Problem of Masochism Emile Durkheim (1858-1917) Suicide Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860-1935) The Living of Charlotte Perkins Gilman Suicide Note, August 17, 1935 The Right to Die-I Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869-1948) Indian Home Rule An Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with Truth Non-Violence in Peace and War Alfred Adler (1870-1937) Suicide Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961) Letters: July 10, 1946; July 25, 1946; Oct. 13, 1951; Nov. 10, 1955 John Haynes Holmes (1879-1964) Is Suicide Justifiable? Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) Mrs. Dalloway A Room of One's Own Journal, May 15, 1941 Letter to Leonard Woolf, March 18, 1941 Paul Tillich (1886-1965) The Courage to Be Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951) Notebooks 1914-1916 Letters Mao Zedong (1893-1976) The Suicide of Miss Zhao Szmul Zygielbojm (1895-1943) Letter to the President and Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland Paul-Louis Landsberg (1901-1944) The Moral Problem of Suicide Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945)

Ethics: Last and Penultimate ThingsAlbert Camus (1913-1960) The Myth of Sisyphus

The Ethics of Suicide

Historical Sources

Edited by Margaret Pabst Battin

From Our Blog

But what's the right term, really? After all, much of the political disagreement and legal wrangling over this issue is rooted in this fundamental conceptual question, is 'physician-assisted suicide' really suicide? Let's see if we can figure it out.